Quirky Lots Shape Building Projects

Extension of Sixth Avenue in 1920s Creates Opportunities for Developers

By

Josh Barbanel

June 11, 2014 9:43 p.m. ET

In the 1920s, when New York City extended Sixth Avenue south to lower Manhattan, it obliterated entire streets and the homes of thousands of people, leaving a patchwork of demolition scars.

But adversity sometimes begets opportunity. Developers, filling in some of last remaining scars, have turned some of the Greenwich Village and SoHo lots into buildings with prominent designs and necessarily unusual shapes.